The Secret Behind ER: Why Do Low-Follower Channels Generate More Orders Than Million-View Channels?
Author: Height Media Strategy Department | Topic: Cost optimization
Imagine you are organising a product introduction seminar.
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Case A: You rent a 10.000-seat stadium. It is crowded, but 90% of the audience are... dozing or using their phones, and nobody is listening to you.
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Case B: You rent a small 500-seat venue. The audience fills every seat, listens attentively, nods in agreement and stays afterwards to ask about buying.
In this example:
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The stadium represents KOLs with many followers but low ER.
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The small venue represents KOC creators with few followers but high ER.
In marketing, ER (Engagement Rate) is the measure of that attentiveness. This article will help you understand why ER is the key to optimising cash flow when booking creators.
1. ER — A “Scanner” Distinguishing Real and Fake Fans
In 2025, buying 100.000 social media Followers is as easy and cheap as buying vegetables. Many KOC creators use this to inflate their image and demand high booking fees from brands.
If you pay based only on follower count, you are throwing money away.
ER (Engagement Rate) reveals the unvarnished truth:
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A channel with 100.000 followers but only 20 likes per post $\rightarrow$ ER = 0.02%. This is certainly Fake followers (Clone).
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If you hire these channels, the platform will classify your video as spam content and it will never be distributed to real customers.
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2. The Economics: Cost per Engagement (CPE)
Do not look at the total booking price; look at what you pay for each customer's agreement to buy.
Compare the following 2 quotations:
| Metric | KOC A (Fake Star) | KOC B (Proven Performer) |
| Follower count | 500.000 | 50.000 |
| Booking price | 10.000.000đ | 3.000.000đ |
| Genuine engagement (Like/Cmt) | 1.000 (low ER ~ 0.2%) | 5.000 (high ER ~ 10%) |
| Cost per engagement (CPE) | 10.000 VND / interaction | 600 VND / interaction |
Conclusion: KOC A appears cheap (because of the high follower count) but is actually 16 times more expensive than KOC B.
At Height Entertainment, we always advise clients to choose KOC B. Although less well known, they deliver real economic value.
3. Signs of a “High-Quality” KOC (Good ER)
How can you tell whether a KOC has good ER without sitting with a calculator? Examine the Comments — the hardest place to fake.
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Good-ER channels (worth hiring):
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Comments with specific content: “What shade is this lipstick?”, “Is it suitable for oily skin?”, “Looking forward to the next review”.
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The KOC responds enthusiastically to comments, creating 2-way conversations.
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Poor-ER channels (avoid):
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Comments consisting only of icons (👍, ❤️, 🔥) or meaningless phrases such as “Wonderful”, “So good”. (These are usually automated tools).
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Spam comments selling lottery tickets or linking to adult websites... that the channel owner does not remove.
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4. The Gold Standard for Choosing Trusted Talent
Based on actual data from hundreds of campaigns, Height Entertainment recommends “safe” ER levels for investment:
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With TikTok: Prioritise channels with an ER of 8% or more. These channels are currently favoured by the algorithm and are more likely to trend.
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With Facebook: Prioritise an ER of 3% - 5%.
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Pay particular attention to: The smaller the channel (Nano/Micro), the higher its ER should be. A small channel with low ER has no usable value.
5. How to Measure Accurately
Business owners are usually too busy to examine every KOC comment. The risk of choosing a “fake KOC” is high.
At Height Entertainment, our Booking process always includes “Quality Assessment” (Audit):
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We use paid tools to scan the KOC channel's entire history.
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Immediately exclude KOC creators showing signs of purchased followers or manipulated likes.
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Provide you with transparent reporting: “With this budget, how much genuine engagement do you expect?”.
Conclusion
In business, numbers do not lie. Do not be dazzled by inflated follower counts. Choose a KOC with A real community and Genuine engagement. That is where your money grows.
Would you like a list of KOC creators with the strongest performance metrics in your category?
